Copyright 2004 ACNielsen
Executive Insights
Introduction
The Communications Centre Service (CCS), also known as "Comms" within the New Zealand Police, receive all 111 calls and other calls which are routed to the police. Comms logs jobs and events, entering details as provided by the caller, to assist the officers who are despatched to the scene.
New Zealand Police has contracted ACNielsen to conduct a customer satisfaction survey of recent callers to the three Communication Centres (Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch) administered by the CCS. Results from the survey will be used to determine satisfaction with the service performance of the CCS and to inform service improvements.
The survey was first conducted in 2000 and monitors have been carried out on an annual basis to enable the monitoring of relative service performance.
Research Objectives
The broad objectives of this research are two-fold:
- To ascertain the level of satisfaction from the public of the service provided by the Communication Centres, for internal analysis and identification of improvements.
- To fulfil a parliamentary performance measurement, whereby the level of satisfaction of external callers is recorded in the NZ Police annual Statement of Intent.
Overall Rating of Comms Service
Overall, the majority (93%) of callers rate the Communication Centre call service highly (ratings of excellent, very good or good). This is a slight increase of two percentage points compared with 2003.
Across all centres, the Northern Centre remains the most highly rated, with the majority (95%) rating the service positively. This is consistent to last year. All three areas have remained relatively stable this year.
Note subsequently there is also a slight decrease in the proportion rating Comms overall as poor or not so good (from 8% in 2003 to 5% in 2004). This decrease is consistent across all three centres.
Some of the reasons identified for a negative rating of overall service are:
- message not passed on to police
- operator not interested
- uncaring and made to feel call unimportant.
Mean Scores of the Overall Service
Respondents were asked to rate the service they received from Comms on a scale of Excellent (5) to Poor (1). The following table shows the mean scores achieved overall and by centre.
On the whole, the satisfaction levels have increased slightly compared with 2003, particularly with callers to the Central centre.
| 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | Change since 2003 | |
| Overall telephone service received from Comms | ||||||
| Total | 3.84 | 4.01 | 3.99 | 3.91 | 4.02 | +0.11 |
| Northern | 3.81 | 3.96 | 3.91 | 4.00 | 4.09 | +0.09 |
| Central | 3.81 | 4.03 | 3.98 | 3.75 | 3.88 | +0.13 |
| Southern | 4.00 | 4.14 | 4.24 | 3.97 | 4.04 | +0.07 |
Mean Scores of the Service Aspects
Four service aspects were rated from excellent (5) to poor (1). The mean score for each service aspect is shown in the table below. Consistent with previous years, all aspects are rated highly, averaging around 4 out of a possible 5.
Overall, there has been an increase in satisfaction with all service aspects, particularly with making you feel like your call mattered to them and helpfulness of person handling your call.
| 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | Change since 2003 | |
| Ease of making initial contact | 3.84 | 4.02 | 4.03 | 3.85 | 3.92 | +0.07 |
| Promptness of personal answer | 3.91 | 4.16 | 4.09 | 3.96 | 4.04 | +0.08 |
| Helpfulness of person handling your call | 3.93 | 4.06 | 4.09 | 4.02 | 4.17 | +0.15 |
| Making you feel your call mattered to them | 3.75 | 3.95 | 3.95 | 3.82 | 4.00 | +0.18 |
Most important call service responses to an emergency 111 call
Respondents were initially asked what they considered to be the most important things the Police should do when handling an emergency 111 call. ‘Ensuring a quick response to the call’ remains the most important service element (32% cf. 39% 2003).
Accurately recording all the necessary details of the situation and answering quickly were the two next most important police responses.
Suggestions of ways service could be improved
Due to the high levels of satisfaction, it is not surprising that seven in ten respondents (68%) did not suggest any improvements with the service that they received from Comms.
Only about one quarter (24%) of the callers to the Southern centre suggested an improvement with the Comms service, compared with 37% of callers to the Central Comms centre.
The most frequently mentioned improvement by those giving a suggestion was providing more lines, so that calls could be answered more quickly (6%). Providing follow up or feedback was the next most frequently mentioned, by 5% of respondents.
Table of contents
Executive Insights
Needs Assessment
Research Design
Call details
Ease of making first contact
Rating of communication centres call service
Overall rating of communication centres call service
Relative Importance Analysis
Meeting Call Service Expectations
Handling of Emergency 111 Calls
Extent To Which Comfortable With Experience Of Calling The Police
Suggestions For Improvement
Variations of findings by ethnic group
Variations of findings by ethnic group, continued
Appendix I - Respondent Profile
Appendix II - Trend Charts
Appendix III - Questionnaire
Download full Report
Communication Service Centre Customer Satisfaction Survey 2003-2004
154 page PDF, 1380 KB- Communication Service Centre Customer Satisfaction Survey 2003-2004
simple web page, 115KB
